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Colonization has seriously slowed or maybe stopped with my Koh Samui on a 10 lb kit. I mixed the colonized rye berries in almost two weeks ago! There are no signs of contamination and no strange smells. The mycelium was spreading ok but then seems to have halted. Everything looks healthy. Temperatures are between 70F and 80F approx.

Should I take the top off and fan it? I haven't taken the top off since mixing the compost and rye.

I thought this was supposed to be a fast colonizer. Please help. Thanks.

How much of the substrate is colonized? You shouldn't need to fan it. The mycelium is in the process of colonizing the substrate. During this period of vegetative growth the mycelium doesn't need air exchange. Air exchange is important during the fruiting stage. But why it has stopped????I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but fanning is not the answer here.
I guess it can't hurt either if the thing has stalled out on you.Is it almost fully colonized?

I think it's about 1/3 colonized. I was under the impression that the fungus needs oxygen during all stages of growth. Does it really change to aerobic respiration only in the reproductive stage? To quote the MMGG, "The fungus needs oxygen and gasses can filter through the vermiculite. " (Preparation of the Substrate, Step 5)

It also says, "Adaptation-7: More Oxygen for Colonization

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The culture jars can be given more oxygen during colonization. This is done by inverting the jars so that the lid is down. Advantage: As the CO2 builds up, growth of the fungus slows down. Indeed, the mycelium benefits from increased CO2 during its vegetative growth stage, but eventually it gets too high for optimum growth. If you invert the jars, the CO2 can drain out and is replaced by fresh air. This will speed the colonization of the substrate. "
Obviously this is a diffrent method of growing, but I think these issues are relevant to mushrooms in general.

Maybe it is a humidity issue. I think it's strange that growth has slowed so much because the kit does have holes for gas exchange. I'm not sure what good they do since they're on the top and CO2 is heavier than O2.

The reason I'm checking on this is that I'm afraid of introducing contaminants.

I'm sorry, I didn't men to imply that it need no oxygen. All I ment was that there is no great need for air exchanges during the vegetative phase. Your container should have plenty of O2 in it without doing manual fanning. Yes, excessive Co2 can slow down colonization, but with the holes on top of the lid this shouldn't be a major problem. I just ran a batch myself a few months back with 15lbs of DB compost. I did not use their container,but mine had just two holes on the sides that were covered with a filter. During the colonization phase, there's was plenty of oxygen to meet the requirements of the mycelium. I wasn't refereing to the mycelium being aerobic vs anarobic. It most definately is aerobic. I just does better with higher level of Co2 during the vegitative phase. Then, for fruiting the CO2 levels must be dropped.
Anyhow, I was just refering to your particular set up.The DB kit. If you mycelium has only colonized a third of your compost after two weeks, you have a problem. I'm sure you did not need me to point that out. Mycelium loves this compost and usually colonizes it pretty fast. I've heard read reports were it took two to three weeks for it to completely colonize, but that's the longest. I was lucky and mine colonized in very quickly. You are correct in what you stated, but you shouldn't have such CO2 build up in your kit that in after two weeks only a third of it has colonized. You can probably take a box with no holes, fill it up with compost and spawn, put it under your bed and it would still colonize if there's no competing contaminants in it. My point is that mycelium is pretty CO2 tolerant. I hope things work out for you.

Fanning is not the answer. It does not sounds contaminted from what you describe. Although their are forms of bacteria that are unseen.

Try raising those temps to a constant of around 80-85F. Give it a few days it should start growing again.
IF that does not work, reach in their with sterile hands and mix it around real good. Give it a few more days. If it still does not grow then it has a bacteria in it that is halting the growth. Contact me for a new kit if these ideas dont work.